Turbine in the U.K. converts wind power into kinetic, falling-over energy

If you’re wondering why you thought you might have heard a sound something like a combination of giggling and coins jingling and a breeze ruffling the fur of an ugly otter, it’s because Donald Trump is happy today. Trump hates wind turbines, not because he understands how they work or what they’re used for (probably) but because he doesn’t want them in the ocean near his bullshit golf course.

A wind turbine in north Devon has collapsed, leaving local residents concerned about safety. It is understood to be the first such reported incident in the UK, although blades have fallen from turbines in a small number of cases.

The turbine was sited on farmland in the Bradworthy area and fell down in the early hours of Sunday morning. Margaret Coles, chairwoman of Bradworthy parish council, which opposed the erection of the turbine, told the Daily Telegraph that strong winds had hit the area. “The bolts on the base could not withstand the wind as we are a very windy part of the country. Dulas [the energy company] have egg on their face,” she said. “There are concerns about safety.”

Well, yes. When a big, heavy thing specifically designed to be used in the wind is knocked over by the wind, that should rightly prompt concerns.

It’s noted that the turbine here was “relatively small.” It could have been worse. It could have been one of these offshore mega-turbines, each blade of which is three times longer than the turbine that fell over. That’s why we put them in the ocean, where they can only fall on whales and such. And, you know, be visible from real estate magnates’ golf courses, infuriating them endlessly.

What the wind farm in Devon really needed was a more robust way of keeping the turbine affixed to the ground. Like a really, really strong adhesive. The sort of thing that one might use to adhere a toupee on a very windy day.